Russian Forces Halt Kyiv Advance as Kremlin Says Donbass Was Only Goal All Along – By Tara Copp (Defense One) / March 25, 2022
Pentagon official rebuts Moscow’s claims about war aims, casualties; adds that Russian precision munitions are failing at high rates.
A month into its invasion, Russia appears to be reducing its war aims from capturing all of Ukraine to merely holding the Donbass region–which a top Russian military officer said Friday was the goal from the start, but which Pentagon said may be a result of Russia’s intelligence failures.
“Our forces and equipment will focus on the most important thing, the complete liberation of Donbass,” Russian General Staff head of military operations Sergei Rudskoi said at a Friday briefing in Moscow, as reported by Interfax. Rudskoi said the month-long invasion had completed its first phase and achieved its purpose: keeping Ukraine from retaking the separatist-controlled Donbass territories.
Rudskoi claimed the attacks on Kyiv and outlying cities were done only to keep Ukraine from being able to send troops or defenses to Donbass.
He also said Russian military casualties were 1,351 dead and 3,825 wounded. Both figures are far below recent NATO estimates of 7,000 and 15,000 Russians dead and 40,000 wounded.
